from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

- (Patrice) Bergeron is a member of the generational 2003 NHL Draft. Some of Bergeron’s peers remain in his category of being game-breaking players: Marc-Andre Fleury, Jeff Carter, Brent Seabrook, Ryan Suter, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns, Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry, Loui Eriksson, Shea Weber, Corey Crawford, Joe Pavelski, and Dustin Byfuglien.

But some of 2003’s stars are showing signs of wear. It’s a good bet that Eric Staal, Dion Phaneuf, Zach Parise, Mike Richards, and Jimmy Howard, once considered among the elites at their respective positions, have already played the best hockey of their careers. Regardless of skill, age slows everyone, even the stars of the game-changing 2003 crop. Even Bergeron will join the latter group as the games and years add to his already high mileage. It’s why drafting and developing the next generation of stars is critical for any team’s long-term success.

- Several coaches, including John Tortorella, have not been shy about expressing their distaste for the coach’s challenge — for good reason. There is no consistency to anything regarding goaltender inference. As for the offside challenge, it is ludicrous at every turn. Yet commissioner Gary Bettman, speaking at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference on Friday, described the coach’s challenge as something that should be used with more discretion.

“It was really intended for that egregious situation, of which we think there are typically 20 a year,” Bettman said. “I think the coaches, some of them, may lose sight of that and have overused it saying, ‘Oh, I think that was goaltender interference.’ ” Bettman is right about the challenge’s overuse. But the league encouraged coaches to apply it to the current degree because of the gray area surrounding what is and what isn’t legal.

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